Pot Legalization

For four years, Rob Jenkins scoured the Internet in vain to find employment. Any job would do. However, despite showing initial interest in hiring him, nobody would take the plunge after learning about his 2008 conviction for growing cannabis, albeit a misdemeanor. “I was stuck,” the 37-year-old college graduate recalled. “No job opportunities were coming in.” The Effect of Pot Legalization Jenkins is not alone. Countless others across the United States faced similarly dire prospects for their futures, all because of a criminal record for cultivating or possessing now-legal marijuana. Now, the movement to reform pot laws, state by state, is providing them with a chance for expungement, especially those from Black and Latino neighborhoods previously targeted by law enforcement. The goal is to expunge pot-related criminal records and help those affected put their previously illegal skills to good use in the exploding cannabis industry. It began when voters …